What's new on Netflix? March 2016 releases

Enjoy evenings in with the five best things to watch on Netflix UK this month

Kevin Spacey & Robin Wright, House of Cards Season 4

Spring is just around the corner but looking out of your window, you’d be forgiven for not noticing. It’s cold and it’s raining; in short, it’s Netflix weather. Fortunately, the streaming giant is offering plenty of quality new releases to keep you entertained until the warmer months roll around. The trouble is, there’s plenty of dross too. Just as well, then, that we’re on hand with our guide to the best new film and TV.TV: House of Cards Season 4

The headline news is the return of Netflix original House of Cards. It’s a show that needs little introduction. Frank Underwood, Kevin Spacey’s soliloquising U.S. President has fast become one of the most recognisable characters on TV; he’s a Machiavel par excellence, scheming his way to the top.

Season four follows Underwood’s re-election campaign so expect plenty of fraught strategy meetings and heated TV debates, alongside all the usual intrigue and megalomania. The episodes arrive in one binge-watchable package on March 4.

Drama: two critics’ favourites

When 45 Years came out, we were astounded, deeming it ‘a beautifully drawn picture of latent melancholia.’ Half a year later, we remain convinced that this is one of the best films of 2015. Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay are pitch-perfect as an aging couple whose bucolic existence is haunted by the memory of the husband’s first love. If you missed it in cinemas, make sure to catch up from March 31.

Tonally, Loreak is of a piece with 45 Years, reverberating with mid-life melancholy. It begins with the unexpected arrival of a bouquet of flowers, and blossoms into a ruminative, existential drama. It’s notable as the first Basque language film to be selected for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. You can stream it from March 1.

Documentary: our top choice

In 2011, filmmaker Lotte Sodjerland suffered a haemorrhagic stroke, entering a state of extreme confusion, suddenly bereft of logic. After emergency surgery, she awoke in a world now strange to her, and thereafter began her recovery. She decided to film her experiences, to document the fear and wonder which they brought with them, and enlisted David Lynch as an executive producer along the way. The result is My Beautiful Broken Brain which begins streaming from March 18.

And an oldie…

Netflix has long boasted an impressive selection of cult favourites. The latest addition to the roster is Something Wild. It’s an off-kilter take on the road movie staple in which an apparently uptight banker (Charlie Driggs) heads out on the highway with a roving free spirit (Melanie Griffith.) It might not be the most original of premises, but it’s a certified ‘80s classic. It's available from March 1.